QUOTES FROM THE MEDIA
UKRAINIAN WORKERS FLEE ‘MODERN SLAVERY’ CONDITIONS ON UK FARMS Hundreds of Ukrainians are believed to be living and working informally in Britain after escaping from farms they were working at, with many claiming to have been subjected to conditions of modern slavery. Ukrainians made up by far the largest proportion of workers in the UK on seasonal worker visas in 2021. Of the 29,631 visas issued under the T5 seasonal work scheme, two thirds (19,920) were given to Ukrainians. The Scottish Refugee Council estimates there are up to 6,000 Ukrainians in the UK. The farm workers are not eligible for the two main government schemes that support Ukrainian refugees – the family scheme and the community sponsorship scheme… Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, the director of the Work Rights Centre, said: ‘I’m extremely concerned for the safety of Ukrainians who had to flee exploitative work conditions … and have since become undocumented.’ She said many had resorted to working precariously in the underground economy. The Guardian
SALVATIONIST
MANCHESTER PUB BECOMES CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNINGS People in Manchester can now attend church at a pub. The Mosely Arms in Bolton has become the venue for an informal alternative to traditional weekly worship. ‘We just want local people who are often completely off church to encounter Jesus…’ Rev Ben Woodfield, the vicar of New Life Church, told Premier… ‘We’re going for people who are third, fourth-generation unchurched. That’s who we’re wanting to reach. So we just found that neutral spaces are a little easier for people to walk through the door.’ Rev Woodfield and his team came up with the pub idea while prayer walking around the area. The project was launched in March and has already seen growth in church membership.
God never tires of forgiving anyone who asks, Pope Francis told 12 prisoners on Holy Thursday before washing their feet … at a prison in Civitavecchia, northwest of Rome… The Pope … washed the feet of 12 inmates, men and women of different ages and nationalities… Pope Francis encouraged the inmates to pray: ‘Lord, forgive me. I will try to serve others, but you serve me with your forgiveness…’ Pope Francis told the inmates he knows that washing someone else’s feet can seem to be ‘a strange thing’ today, but it is a reminder of Jesus, who ‘teaches us this, and it is simple: you have to wash each other’s feet, one serving the other, without selfinterest.’
Premier
The Tablet
COST OF LIVING CRISIS: VALUE OF UK UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS SEES BIGGEST FALL IN 50 YEARS Claimants of unemployment benefits will see the biggest fall in the value of their payments in 50 years … anti-poverty campaigners have said, as Britons grapple with the worst cost of living crisis since 1972… Since September the price of most essentials has rocketed. According to the latest UK economic outlook report from PwC, British households are set to be £900 worse off this year in a ‘historic fall’ in living standards… Helen Barnard, the associate director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an anti-poverty group, [said]… ‘The majority of people in poverty now are in working households. One of the problems is that too many jobs are not just low paid, but they’re insecure – you don’t know what money you’re getting one week to the next, you don’t get sick pay; you don’t get protection if something goes wrong. People are struggling to afford the basic essentials and having to rely on charities for toothpaste and toilet rolls. It’s humiliating for a lot of people.’ The Guardian
salvationarmy.org.uk/salvationist Issue No 1856
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Salvationist 30 April 2022
POPE WASHES FEET OF 12 PRISON INMATES
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